Hartenfels Castle was the residence of the Saxon electors. From 1525, Torgau became, under the Elector Friedrich III, the most important residence and the political centre of the Reformation. It was here that the first Protestant church in Europe was built. Martin Luther personally consecrated the castle church in 1544, the church in which his wife, Katharina von Bora, was buried.

Two of the castle’s notable architectural features: the Grosse Wendelstein (1533-37) and the Schöner Erker (1543-44). “the Impossible Staircase,” is a grand, enclosed spiral of stone steps, constructed without a central supporting column, in the castle’s main courtyard. The Schöner Erker (“beautiful oriel”) is a two-story oriel with eight windows, framed in intricately carved sandstone, and also richly decorated.

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